Most precious metals on Tuesday closed lower for a second day in a row. Again, palladium was the exception. Gold and silver extended their declines to a third straight session after they scored multi-month highs last Thursday.
Gold for April delivery inched down 10 cents to settle at $1,319.20 an ounce on the Comex division of the New York Mercantile Exchange.
"Residual strength in the dollar gives off the impression of a near term dollar uptrend and that could keep the bias in both gold and silver pointing downward," analysts at Zaner Precious Metals wrote in a note Tuesday according to MarketWatch. "Clearly, the gold and silver markets damaged their charts Monday by extending a recent pattern of lower lows and lower highs."
Gold futures ranged from a low of $1,314.80 to a high of $1,321. They fell 0.2% on Monday. Last Thursday, they settled at their best price since April 24.
Silver for March delivery shed 5 cents, or 0.3%, to close at $15.836 an ounce. Silver futures traded between $15.81 and $15.93. They dipped 0.3% on Monday. Last Thursday, they marked their best close since July 10.
In other precious metals futures dealings Tuesday:
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April platinum settled down $2.90, or 0.4%, to $819.90 an ounce, ranging from $819 to $827.40.
- Palladium for March gained $10.80, or 0.8%, to $1,341.20 an ounce, trading between $1,327.70 and $1,347.50.
London Precious Metals Prices
In comparing earlier fixed London gold and silver prices from Monday PM to Tuesday PM
- Gold rose $2.05, or 0.2%, to $1,314.20 an ounce.
- Silver added 12 cents, or 0.8%, to $15.865 an ounce.
LBMA platinum and palladium prices are available on the LBMA’s website with a delay of midnight.
US Mint 2019 Bullion Sales
United States Mint bullion sales climbed by a combined 5,500 ounces in American Eagle and Buffalo gold coins, by 255,000 ounces in American Silver Eagles, and by 500 ounces in American Platinum Eagles.
Below is a sales breakdown of U.S. Mint bullion products with columns listing the number of coins sold during varying periods.
| US Mint Bullion Sales (# of coins) | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Tuesday / This Week | Last Week | January | February | 2019 Sales | |
| $100 American Eagle 1 Oz Platinum Coin | 500 | 2,000 | 27,100 | 1,000 | 28,100 |
| $50 American Eagle 1 Oz Gold Coin | 3,000 | 2,500 | 44,500 | 4,000 | 48,500 |
| $25 American Eagle 1/2 Oz Gold Coin | 0 | 1,000 | 15,000 | 0 | 15,000 |
| $10 American Eagle 1/4 Oz Gold Coin | 0 | 0 | 20,000 | 0 | 20,000 |
| $5 American Eagle 1/10 Oz Gold Coin | 5,000 | 40,000 | 85,000 | 5,000 | 90,000 |
| $50 American Buffalo 1 Oz Gold Coin | 2,000 | 1,000 | 23,500 | 2,000 | 25,500 |
| $1 American Eagle 1 Oz Silver Coin | 255,000 | 116,500 | 4,017,500 | 285,000 | 4,302,500 |
